If and when Microsoft follow through with their proposed plan of instilling AI-driven spyware in Windows 11 (And killing Windows 10 in 2025), I do wonder what it'll do to the VR landscape.
VR is already an uphill battle to get running on Windows, and the weird quirks it experiences on the regular are frustrating. This is what's pushed people to Meta's offerings, in my opinion. The Quest line of headsets can be used as a standalone console, basically. But that locks you into a walled garden that lacks many of the biggest VR draws, and simultaneously forces you to run at much lower power than the best VR experiences require.
Apple's vision pro set out to differentiate itself from the VR space entirely by being a productivity tool first and foremost. This, combines with lackluster reception and a hefty price tag, means it's going to stay a very small sliver of the market moving forward.
VR on Linux is... Not ready for primetime. At all. Say whatever you want, but it's just not. And beyond that, it's an uphill battle after and uphill battle - Most VR users aren't going to want to deal with getting a headset working on Linux.
So what happens when the curtain closes on Windows 10 next year, and Windows 11 is all that remains, with it's obvious spyware and frequent repossession of your system and settings? Will the masses migrate to Linux on the back of Proton and leave an already withering VR base to finally die? Or will VR instead propell people to swallow Windows 11 and all it entails?
The hope remains that Valve might be planning for such an eventuality - That the mysterious Deckard might be integrated with SteamOS in such a manner as to make Windows irrelevant for the pursuit. But as always, that is a longshot and a dream.
We'll see what happens. My estimation is that numerous people with convince themselves that Windows 11 and copilot are just fine, actually.
